There has been a recent shift towards using fuels produced from renewable resources in today's environmentally conscious world. Biomass found in municipal solid waste (MSW) provides an excellent opportunity as a major, near-term, carbon-neutral energy resource. MSW naturally biodegrades, producing landfill gas (LFG) composed mainly of methane and carbon dioxide, two major greenhouse gases, which can be used to generate the fuels.
Despite the potential benefits of processing MSW to generate liquid fuels, less than 15% of the over 243 million tons of MSW produced each year is used for that purpose. One reason for this is that landfills currently lack robust technologies that can efficiently convert environmentally harmful hydrocarbons produced in LFG into liquid fuels. Existing technologies are inhibited by high capital costs and low economic recovery and therefore require carbon capture credits to be economically feasible. Current technologies also require specific deliverables in order to function as designed. If feedstock flows are outside the required specifications, the LFG is flared and the resource is effectively wasted.
New LFG-to-liquids processes could provide high economic returns from an abundant and renewable feedstock. At the current prices of diesel and jet fuel, the end product would be an attractive alternative to power generation. Once a landfill is outfitted with an LFG-to-liquids plant, the fuel product could also be used to decrease fuel requirements needed to perform ordinary landfill tasks. Additionally, the fuel product could further be marketed to interested parties because it is compatible with existing infrastructure.
In view of the above discussion, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have alternative systems and methods for producing liquid fuels from MSW and/or LFG.